


Reptilian

by XJustForFanFicsx



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Gen, Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 06:42:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12270993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XJustForFanFicsx/pseuds/XJustForFanFicsx
Summary: This story follows a teenage girl named Natalia Vivia Diamond on a quest with her animal guardian, a rattlesnake named Rico, and her best friends Jake Henderson, Lilian VanLee and their animal guardians to bring balance between Animalians and the Monstrous Kin before it spins out of control.





	1. The Best Moment of My Life

My name is Natalia Diamond. I am 16 years old and am a junior in high school. I love science, math, and animals, especially reptiles. I live in Phoenix, Arizona with my mom and my sister who is 4 years younger than me and adopted. I never really knew my dad, since he died shortly after I was born. I have three pets too. A German shepherd named Jackal, a brown tabby named Leroy (pronounced Lee-roy), and a rattlesnake named Rico. Yes you heard me right, I did say rattlesnake! It's quite an interesting story of how I ended up with a pet rattlesnake. It all started when I was only 4 years old sitting in my backyard picking needles off cacti when I noticed there was a rattlesnake staring at me in the distance. My mom had always warned me of venomous rattlesnakes, but I wasn't afraid. Instead I was quite curious since I had never seen one up close before. It was a male. Don't ask me how I knew 'cause I don't even know myself. He started to slither towards me, and I have to admit, I was a little nervous as he approached me. Every muscle in my body tensed when he crawled into my lap. He met me in the eyes, his head about seven inches from mine. Great, I thought, now I'm going to get bit in the face by a deadly rattlesnake. He hissed softly as if to say hello. Suddenly, every muscle relaxed and I felt immediate peace and security and I got a surge of courage to pet him. He didn't mind at all, in fact, I think he really liked it. He rattled his tail slightly which I think was equivalent to a cat's purr. At that moment I decided to keep him.

"I'm going to name you Rico." I said to the rattlesnake who rattled his tail again and nudged against me like a cat. Meeting a dangerous animal and becoming best friends in an instant was no problem, but getting your mom to accept a rattlesnake into the family, that's a different story. My mom is probably one of the most overprotective parents in the world. Okay, that was a bit of an overstatement, but she gets paranoid over anything that could do me any harm, even a hot stove despite me being 16 years old to know better. Fortunately mom usually gives in on my requests but I doubted I could win her over this time. I knew that "no" was the most likely answer. But this relationship was meant to be, Rico and me. So with my fingers crossed I entered my back door with my new best friend. Mom was cooking in the kitchen.

"Mom I have to ask you about something, something that you are not going to like." I said.

"What is it honey?" She turned to me then stumbled backward, almost knocking over the pot on the stove.

"Ahh! Get that thing out of the house! It's a dangerous animal!" She screamed.

"Yes I know that, but he approached me like a stray cat, needing a home. Can I keep him, please?" I pleaded.

"Absolutely not!" My mother said firmly. My heart was broken and I started to cry, which was very rare for me, even when I was a baby.

"This relationship was m-meant to be," I sniffled "please mom, please," I looked up at her teary eyed. Her weakness is seeing her child get emotional which makes her become emotional. She may be a very overprotective parent, but once she gets emotional, she pretty much always gives in. "Okay, you can keep it, but please be very careful. It's a wild animal, and if it turns against you, the consequences will be fatal." My mother told me what I already knew.

"Yes I know, I'll be careful, but I trust him, he makes me feel peaceful and secure inside. And I've already named him. His name is Rico." And that is how I ended up with a pet rattlesnake. My life has never been the same since that day. I felt that I had more control over myself, and I was happier and more cheerful. I bring Rico everywhere I go, even to school (I keep him in my backpack, hidden from others). My mom, despite being an overprotective parent, allows me to bring him with me wherever I go. She's noticed I've changed in a good way since I met Rico. He had changed me for the better.


	2. The Worst Intro to Senior Year

In the previous chapter I was 16 and a junior in high school. Well that was the last day of summer vacation and my birthday is today, August 27. Sorry for the confusion. Sometimes you don't realize how time flies. So now I'm 17 and am finally a senior in high school. The new school year begins today. Lovely first day of being 17 huh? I go to Kenton High School. It's a pretty good school, it has a great reputation, and the teachers and students are very friendly. Well there is one awful teacher named Mrs. Kred who is a bit psychotic. There's also a group of nasty, gossipy girls everyone calls the mean girls. Their names are Ella, Christine, and Jade. They fit all the stereotypes of popular girls you see in movies. They are mean to every student in the school. With the "mean girls" and Mrs. Kred as exceptions, everyone else in the school is very nice. I get along with all the students except those three girls. My two best friends are Jake Henderson and Lilian VanLee. We have pretty much everything in common. We all love science, math, and animals. Jake is especially fond of reptiles. He has a juvenile Komodo dragon named Kaden. Lilian really likes amphibians. She owns a California newt named Carlos. Like me, they both take their pets everywhere they go. Anyways, I'm almost to my locker, when the mean girls show up. Oh great, I thought, not again. They always tease me and call me the Diamondback because of my last name and my fondness of snakes, especially venomous rattlers. I've had enough of them since freshman year. Now it's time for some revenge. I normally would threaten them, and sometimes I would even get physically involved. But this time I had a different and more creative strategy in mind.

"Well look who's here. It's miss Diamondback again." Ella, the leader of the group, sneered. The other girls snickered.

"Yeah," Jade added, "she may bite like she's a snake." The other girls laughed.

"You know what? I personally won't bite you, but my rattlesnake might! Meet Rico!" I pulled Rico out of my backpack. He used his body as a spring and leaped at them, hissing and showing his fangs. They screamed and ran away towards the office. Yeah I knew they would tattle on me, but I had a plan. Principal Winnafred called me into his office and gestured for me to enter, which I did.

"Natalia, these young ladies claimed you threw a live rattlesnake at them." Principal Winnafred said with a stern look on his face.

"Yeah she pulled out it of her backpack!" Ella yelled. Principal Winnafred gestured at me to show him the snake.

"It's not a real snake, geez!" I yelled. I took Rico out of my backpack and he knew exactly what to do. I wiggled him around as he played the rubber snake trick, a trick I taught him for a situation like this.

"But it hissed at us!" Christine exclaimed. Fortunately, I was prepared for that too. I took out my phone from my pocket and played my hiss sound text tone. Principal Winnafred turned towards the mean girls with an annoyed look on his face.

"You really shouldn't have wasted my time just to accused Natalia for tossing a fake snake." He said as he crossed his arms and tapped his foot on the floor.

"But it's real!" They all yelled simultaneously. Principal Winnafred was quickly losing his patience.

"Get to class girls, and tell your teachers exactly why you're late!" He sent them off, then turned to me.

"Natalia, I'm sorry for the trouble they caused you. I'll write you a note to your teacher to excuse your tardiness." Principal Winnafred said as he sat down at his desk and wrote on a sticky note then handed it to me. I thanked him then left his office. With the note I headed to Mrs. Kred's history class. I hate history and Mrs. Kred. In fact, none of the students liked her. There was something odd about her. Rico didn't like her either, he always shivered whenever she came around to check our homework or to make sure no one was cheating on a test. Well, at least the good news is that my best friends Jake and Lilian were in that class too. I quietly entered the classroom and gave Mrs. Kred my note. She snatched it quickly, scanned it, then crumpled it.

"You're excused." She said wickedly. I sat in my usual seat between Jake and Lilian. As I got my materials out for class, Rico started to shiver violently, worse than normal.

"What's the matter boy?" I whispered to him. I tend to talk to Rico even though I thought it seemed kinda silly, like talking to an imaginary friend. But he would always nod his head as if to let me know he was listening, so maybe it wasn't so silly after all. He's never spoken before so it surprised me when he replied. When he spoke, he emphasized the "s" sound. Just like what you'd expect from a talking snake.

"She knowsss your true identity." Rico said quietly as I looked at him puzzled.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked him. Rico shrank back further into my backpack before answering me.

"No time to exsssplain now. It'sss too dangerousss." He whispered back with a worried tone to his voice. I was shocked. Firstly, because Rico actually responded. And secondly was the chilling message he told me. Jake and Lilian seemed to hear him too.

"That's not a good sign, what Rico just said." Jake whispered with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Jake is right, we have to get out of here now!" Lilian whispered, also seeming on edge.

"What is going on here? And we're in the middle of class." I replied.

"No talking while I'm teaching!" Mrs. Kred interrupted. There was a change in her voice, it was deeper and raspy. She glared at us with glowing green eyes, smiling evilly revealing sharp teeth. Wait a second, sharp teeth and glowing green eyes? She suddenly knelt on all-fours and grew to the size of a horse. Her head and face shifted into a werewolf-like creature's head. Black slick fur grew all over her body. Her fingernails elongated and thickened into sharp claws. She grew a long, thick tail covered with spikes that were oozing a thick, sickly glowing green liquid which I guessed was poison. Lastly, beautiful glowing white angelic wings sprouted from her shoulders, which didn't really fit the rest of her appearance. The weirdest part of this was that the rest of the class didn't seem to notice Mrs. Kred's transformation. The bell rang and the other students left the room as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Now only me, Jake, Lilian, and Mrs. Kred were left in the classroom. I was paralyzed with confusion and terror until Jake interrupted my trance.

"She's a kerlinand, one of the many monster species that hunt our kind."

"How could she sense Natalia if she didn't even know about her true identity?" Lilian asked Jake as if I wasn't there which kind of irritated me.

"Hello, I'm right here y'know. And what the heck are you guys talking about?"

"As Rico said, there is no time to explain right now." Jake replied. I was so dumbfounded that I completely forgot about Mrs. Kred until she spoke again.

"You guys must die. It is for your own good. Otherwise you'll face a treacherous road ahead of you. It's best to get this over with so you don't have to suffer." Mrs. Kred growled.

"Excuse me, but we need to keep our lives. We have to take on this quest no matter how dangerous it will be!" Jake yelled at Mrs. Kred.

"Jake, what are you talking about? What quest?" I asked Jake.

"After we kill her we can talk this over, okay?" Lilian replied to me.

"How are we going to kill her if we don't have any weapons?!" I asked Lilian, with a panicked tone to my voice.

"Ask Rico for one." Lilian responded. Wait what? Did she just tell me to ask my rattlesnake to provide me a weapon? As puzzled as I was, I trusted her. She is my best friend after all. I picked up Rico from my backpack and slung him over my shoulder.

"Rico, give me two golden swords." I commanded him.

"With pleasssure." Rico replied. His body began to glow and two golden swords appeared in front of me out of thin air. I glanced at Jake and Lilian, they had their pets on their shoulders too. Jake had a double bladed V-shaped sword and Lilian had a shepherd's staff surging with electricity.

"Let's start fighting already! You took too long to prepare! I was kind and waited, since this is Natalia's first battle. But other monsters will not be so patient!" Mrs. Kred roared.

"Bring it on, ugly!" Jake shouted back.

"Did you really have to insult her and make her even madder?!" I questioned Jake.

"Natalia listen, the angrier they are, impulsiveness hinders their focus, making their coordination less accurate." He explained back to me. Mrs. Kred roared at us.

"You will die now!" She said as she lunged at us. She was fast, much faster that I thought a large bulky creature could move in a small classroom. Lilian struck Mrs. Kred on the shoulder with her staff, sending a strong jolt of electricity through her body which stopped her in her tracks. She twitched violently and her fur stood on end. She looked like a big black fuzz ball with white wings and a spiked tail which looked kind of funny. We couldn't help but snicker at Mrs. Kred's new look. This really made her mad. Her eyes were now blazing instead of glowing. She lashed her tail at Jake who quickly swung his sword as a reflex, shaving off almost all of her poison dripping spines. She screamed in rage and agony. Her back was turned to me so I seized the opportunity to attack. I leaped onto her back and slashed off both her wings with my golden swords before quickly jumping off. Her shoulders were now heavily bleeding with silver blood. I could tell she was severely weakened. She suddenly turned back into her human form on all-fours again, all beaten up.

"I'm sorry... I... I was possessed by a shape shifting monster entity. Please don't kill me! I'm a normal human being!" Mrs. Kred pleaded. Okay, that really made me feel guilty. I never thought I would ever feel sorry for Mrs. Kred.

"Don't give in Natalia! She's just trying to get you to let your guard down! She wasn't possessed, she is a monster!" Jake yelled at me, trying to get me back to my senses.

"Natalia don't let her fool you! Look out!" Lilian shouted. Mrs. Kred had changed form again while I was facing Jake and Lilian. She roared and my attention was drawn to her again. She didn't have wings or tail spines this time. She lunged at me with her remaining strength. I swung one of my swords as a reflex, slicing her body in half in the process. The halves hit the ground, drenched in her silver blood. She evaporated into a black mist and dissipated into the air, leaving behind a strong stench of sulfur.


	3. I Find Out Who I Am

Well this was an interesting birthday. My history teacher turned into a kerlinand thing and we had to kill her. After that class, Jake and Lilian were on edge for the rest of the school day. I didn't really understand why. I mean, Mrs. Kred is gone now. What else would they have to worry about? The rest of the school day went by without any other incidents. The first and worst day of senior year had finally ended. Jake and Lilian came home with me after school. We set our backpacks down and sat at the dining table with our pets: Rico, Kaden, and Carlos.

"What is the meaning of all this?! Why didn't you tell me anything?!" I yelled at my best friends. I was obviously frustrated with them.

"We didn't think you were ready." Jake said calmly.

"We thought that as long as you didn't know anything about your true identity, monsters wouldn't be able to detect you. However, Mrs. Kred, a kerlinand disguised as a human, did catch your scent." Lilian added.

"Can't monsters detect us whether or not we know our true identity. And what do you guys mean by true identity?" I asked my two best friends.

"It's always been a mystery why monsters can't detect us until we know about our true identity." But before Jake could say more, my mom entered the room.

"Oh, are we having a study group today or something?" She asked.

"No, we're discussing an important matter." Lilian responded. My mom paused for a second.

"Oh you mean that, I see." She said as she started to leave the room.

"Mom! You knew about this too?!" I said in an angry tone. My mother turned around to face me.

"Now honey, I know this can be upsetting and confusing, but it is time you knew about this. Especially because a monster has already detected you. I'll let your friends explain it to you." And with that, she left the room. I was really mad. My own mother knew about this all along and didn't tell me. Jake interrupted my thoughts.

"Okay moving on. What I mean by true identity is that people like us have special links to certain animal specie group or groups. For you and I, it's reptiles. For Lilian, it's amphibians." Jake said as Lilian nodded in response.

"A specific animal is summoned on a journey to seek and bond with a special person and their spirit. Its duty is to protect and guide you. It's always an animal that is harmful in some way. No guardian is completely harmless." Jake continued to explain.

"You mean Rico is bonded not just to me, but to my spirit as well? He is my guardian?" I asked, still very confused.

"Yes, the animal specie varies from person to person. Kaden, my Komodo dragon, is my guardian. Carlos, a California newt, is Lilian's guardian." Jake responded to me.

"So, these animals are supposed to be harmful right? Then what makes Lilian's California newt harmful?" I asked as Lilian looked at me with what looked like a slightly disgusted look.

"They secrete a highly toxic poison from their skin." Lilian replied, seeming a little irritated.

"Oh, sorry. I should have known that," I apologized. I felt kind of stupid because I knew so much about animals.

"But what does this have to do with the identity thing?" I asked as Lilian's right eye twitched in annoyance.

"Jake's explaining that right now!" Lilian said still sounding even more irritated. I think I made her mad when I asked why her California newt was harmful. Lilian is really kind and caring, but sometimes she can get a little moody with certain things you say. Apparently, this was one of them.

"Anyways," Jake continued, "that animal guardian finds you by following the scent of your spirit. Do you remember how you felt inner peace and security when you met Rico? That is proof that the bonding is complete, being and spirit together."

"It happens that fast?! Wait a second, spirits have a scent? I still don't understand how this ties to identity." I blurted out.

"I'm not done explaining yet, Natalia. Be a little more patient. Anyways, as soon as the bonding is complete, it sets your identity in place permanently. There is no way to eradicate or reverse it. Your identity is chosen before birth. You may meet your animal guardian anytime between early childhood and teenage years, it varies from person to person. Not everybody is destined to receive an animal guardian. Only about 100 out of 1,000,000 people. The type of identity you have depends on the specie group or groups your animal guardian is part of. There are reptilian, amphibianic, mammalin, oceanic, and atmospheric identities. If your animal guardian is a reptile, then you have the reptilian identity. If your animal guardian is an amphibian, then you have the amphibianic identity. If your animal guardian is a mammal, then you have the mammalin identity. If your animal guardian lives in a body of water, freshwater or saltwater, then you have the oceanic identity. If your animal guardian can fly, you have the atmospheric identity. You and I are reptilians and Lilian is an amphibianic. It's possible to have more than one identity depending on the animal guardian you receive. For example if you were to receive a vampire bat, you would have both the mammalin and atmospheric identities. These identities are all part of a whole, the entire animal kingdom. The classification term that lumps all identity types together is animalians." Jake finished explaining.

"So, if this identity is chosen before birth, does that mean Rico is ancient?" I asked.

"The animal is born before you, but it isn't much older than you. Only a few years at most. Also, animal guardians' life spans last as long as the life of the person they're assigned to instead of their species' average life span. Unless, of course, they are killed in battle. If that happens, you will receive another animal guardian of the same species, but that rarely occurs." Lilian answered me.

"Identities are very important. They give you power as an individual animalian as well as control over almost all animals, even animals outside of your guardian's specie group. You have a lot more control over animals within your species group though. Some animals are very hard to control, even if they are in your animal guardian's specie group. That is because their spirits have not been tamed yet. These animals tend to be very dangerous. They are crucial for quests. These animals' spirits are encased in a "shield" which must be broken in order to obtain control over them. To break this shield you and your guardian must work together in perfect unison to combine your consciousnesses to enter that animal's consciousness in order to tame that animal's spirit. Once you have broken that shield, you will gain more power as an animalian and have complete control over that animal. These animals will give you a lot of power, which will make it easier to tame other animals' spirits. Think of taming animal spirits as becoming allies with those animals." Jake continued to explain.

"Knowing your identity is extremely important as Jake said, but it also makes you a lot easier to detect by monsters. Once you find out about your identity, you are prone to danger. Some animalians are more easily detected than others. Powerful animalians are very easy to track down because their scent is much stronger. Monsters seek you in the same way animal guardians do, but they usually can't detect you until you know your true identity. This is why we didn't tell you about this. It was for your safety. However, it is common for powerful animalians to be detected before they know about their identity." Lilian added. I think I was starting to piece everything together now.

"So let me get this straight. Monsters can't normally find animalians until they know their identity. Yet a monster has found me before I knew about this, so that means..."

"Yes, you are a very powerful animalian," Jake replied, finishing my sentence. I couldn't believe what Jake just said. I'm powerful? This is awesome! As if reading my thoughts, Lilian reminded me something very important.

"Being powerful comes with a huge downside. You are very, very easy to detect. Monsters go in the direction of the strongest scent. If a monster picks up more than one individual scent they follow the strongest. A stronger scent trail means that either an animalian is nearby or powerful or both. Monsters can tell the difference between distance and power, and powerful animalians are their priority." Lilian told me as I nodded my head.

"Oh okay. I think I get it. Wait there is something I want to know. If my mom knew all about this, does this mean she is an animalian too?" I asked.

"No, because animalian identities are not inherited," Jake answered me. Now that I knew that identity is not inherited, I wanted to know how my mom got all this information on identity and stuff.

"Then how did my mom find out about this?" I asked.

"We told her about it because Jake and I sensed that you were a powerful animalian. A mother must know her child, especially with a situation like this. Don't you agree?" Lilian replied.

"Well yeah, I guess that does make sense." I said in agreement.


	4. Quest Info

I think I understood the identity part, but something else was stuck on my mind.

"Hey Jake, Mrs. Kred mentioned a dangerous road, and then you said we needed to accept a quest. What is this quest?" I asked Jake as he smiled me.

"I'm glad you asked, Natalia. It is very rare that quests come up. They only come up when there is a very serious situation. This situation is dire." Jake said as his expression became serious.

"Dire? What's so dire about-"

"I was just about to explain it. Please don't interrupt." Jake told me.

"Sorry, I just have a lot of questions going through my mind at once." I apologized.

"It's okay. It's a good thing you're asking questions, but not when I'm in the middle of explaining something. Now where was I?" Jake said, scratching his chin.

"You were about to tell Natalia what the dire situation is." Lilian reminded him.

"Oh yeah, thanks Lilian. But before I go on, there is one very important thing I forgot to mention. When a quest comes up, only one clan of animalians are chosen for it. You, me, Lilian, and our guardians are a single clan. A clan is chosen based on their potential and the strength of the relationships between members with one another which are held together by the bonds of the guardians. In other words the guardians also bond with each other and the members of the clan. The bonds of all guardians together connect the clan members, but the members of a clan must also have to have close relationships among themselves." Jake explained.

"So let me get this straight, sorry was I interrupting you Jake?" I apologized, just in case I was interrupting.

"No no, go ahead Natalia, you're all good." Jake said as he gestured for me to continue. Now that I knew that I wasn't interrupting, I continued.

"So we all have to have a close relationship with each other and have strong bonds with our guardians. And our guardians have to be bonded to each other too, which connects the whole clan together." I said, trying to connect the dots.

"That is correct." Jake confirmed.

"But when it comes to close relationships with clan members, does that mean boyfriend and girlfriend type relationships?" I asked, getting a little more curious.

"No, not necessarily. It just means they must at least be best friends." Jake answered me.

"Oh okay. Wait, you said not necessarily, so that means it could be that way?" I asked, secretly having my hopes up. That seemed to make Jake very uncomfortable. He started blushing a light shade of red.

"Uh... yeah, I guess it could." Judging from his reaction, I could tell that he had a crush on either me or Lilian. This will seem quite selfish, but I hoped I was Jake's crush because he is my crush. I looked at Lilian. She also seemed to pick up on the clue, but she showed no interest in Jake that way. I felt relieved for a split second, but then I remembered that she was a pro at hiding her true feelings and displaying very different or even opposite feelings instead. That thought made me kind of uncomfortable. I never thought of Lilian as a rival before, but now I'm starting feel about her that way even though I don't really want to. Jake's little embarrassing moment really caught him by surprise, but he quickly recovered from it.

"Okay, enough of that talk. Lets get back on topic! So, as I was saying, we have a dire situation here. There is a huge imbalance between good and evil. Monsters will hunt and ambush any animalian, but especially evil ones because evil animalians crave power as much as the monstrous kin. Therefore there is more competition with evil animalians than good animalians. They have a particularly bad history with the evil animalians. Of course the monstrous kin also has a bad history with good animalians because they hate anyone who possess and gains power. The evil animalians are the monstrous kin's major enemies. But recently monsters and evil animalians have been joining forces. That's what's causing the huge imbalance." Jake explained.

"We're not quite certain what the specifics are, but me, Jake, and our animal guardians can sense that a dark spiritual takeover mist is being released and controlled by an unknown source. The mist only seems to affect evil animalians. The shift in imbalance of good and evil is strongly related to the flow of this mist. This mist possesses evil animalians in its wake and makes them feel even more desperate to seek and gain more power. As if they absolutely need power in order to survive. Power is important, but almost all people go about their lives normally without power. This power can only be obtained by animalians and the monstrous kin. Only 0.01% of the world's population are animalians." Lilian added.

"But why would the evil animalians ever want to join forces with the monstrous kin since they are such hardcore enemies?" I didn't realize I just interrupted Lilian until I saw the look on her face: harsh, penetrating and cold. She only gives you that look when you really make her mad. If you interrupt Jake, he just gets annoyed, but when you interrupt Lilian, she gets enraged. Fortunately she holds back her anger very well, one of several things I really admire about her.

"I was getting to that but you interrupted me. You know how interrupting me makes me feel. I need time to calm down for a while. It's up to you now Jake." And with that, she turned her back to us.

"Oh, okay. As Lilian said, this mist has possessed evil animalians making them crave power so much, it makes them feel desperate. Desperate people do desperate things, joining their worst enemies in this case. It's not possible for both evil animalians and the monstrous kin to gain all power. The best way for them to compromise is to join forces and work with each other to seize all power together. The joining of evil animalians and monstrous kin has created the immense imbalance between good and evil." Jake explained as Lilian turned back to us. Apparently, she decided she had calmed down enough to join the conversation again.

"Good and evil balance each other out. There are a lot more good than evil animalians, and monsters are always evil. But the fact that monsters kill many more evil animalians than good animalians balances out the whole spectrum. That's how it works." Lilian explained.

"There are some slight imbalances that come up that don't require much attention because they quickly return to a stable state. One this big will not return to a stable state. It will become permanent. Neither the monsters nor the evil animalians realize this. This quest is the most crucial in all of history because no other case has been this severe. This is all we can tell you." Jake ended. That was not all they could tell me, yeah I understand the current situation, all the identity and bonding stuff, but I still needed more information.

"Wait, I still have a couple questions left. Are all clans as small as ours? Why is only one clan chosen for a quest?" I threw out all the questions that circled around my head.

"Clans are never very big, they can range from two to six members. Four on average, so we are slightly on the smaller side." Lilian answered.

"The choosing of one clan for a quest is part of the ancient tradition, since the existence of animalians. No one knows for sure who or what started the tradition. There are many different legends on how it started." Jake added.

"So since clans are not very big, then why is only one chosen for huge quests like this?" I asked. Lilian seemed to be getting tired of all my questions.

"You already asked that." She said impatiently.

"Relax Lilian, Natalia just wants more details. Anyways, one reason is that it is part of the ancient tradition. Another reason is that it is very risky. What I mean by that is if multiple clans decide to work together on a quest, the clan or clans not chosen will be destroyed during the quest. Clans have tried to work together in the past, but only the chosen clan carries through. There is a rumor that breaking the tradition brings a curse upon the unchosen." Jake finished. There were two things that were still bothering me.

"I have only two questions left. If all animalians and monsters possess power, then how are the evil animalians and monstrous kin going to seize all the power? And what are we supposed to do on our quest anyway, and what are we to expect?" I asked.

"When an animalian or monster is killed, the power they possessed transfers to the one who killed that monster or animalian. If the evil animalians and monstrous kin eradicated all the good animalians, they will have all the power. But then they will end up parting ways and start killing each other to obtain that power and the world would just be drowned in chaos. It will be worse than a World War III." Jake answered my question. I was shocked at what I just heard. I felt like I was just crushed under a huge boulder. How could this possibly be worse than a World War III?! This really is a dire situation. The fate of the world relies on us. How are we ever going to stop something so catastrophically huge?! As if reading my mind, Jake spoke.

"We must find the person or thing that is controlling and releasing the mist and destroy them. Once we do that, the extreme desperation will diminish among the evil animalians and they will part from the monstrous kin, preventing the imbalance from becoming permanent. On our quest, we will be traveling great distances, constantly fighting monsters and evil animalians, and practicing to work together in unison which will be crucial in taming powerful animals which will be extremely helpful on our quest." Jake explained to me.


	5. Moments Before Our Quest

Wow, that was a lot of stuff to take in. I'm glad there was no more explaining to do. I didn't like the fact that Jake and Lilian were hiding all this information from me, but I understood that it was for my own good, for my protection, and to save me from intense stress. Well, until now anyways. Okay so in the previous chapter you saw the bad side of Lilian. You might ask how and why we get along. The thing is, she just gets annoyed easily. She is a really great person. She cares deeply for all of her friends, and is very loyal. Yeah, she can get mad at you and stuff, but she doesn't hold grudges for long. As I said before, we have a lot in common. She loves animals, science, and math. We also share some of the same problems too. We both get mad and irritated very easily. But the way we handle those issues are significantly different. I tend to be very impulsive, but Lilian holds it all in, or goes off to take time to cool down a bit. I admire her ability to keep her emotions in check, I wouldn't have gotten in as much trouble as I have if I were more like her. But it's not like I'm a huge troublemaker or anything. So continuing, I've got down all the details on identity, bonding, clans, quests, the balance between good and evil, the dire situation, and our quest goal and expectations. The quest expectations made me very nervous. Traveling long distances to who knows where, in danger of countless attacks, coming across deadly animals that we must try to tame. I was definitely not ready for this quest but I had no choice, we were chosen for it and we must finish it. I didn't realize I was trembling until Jake put his arm around me which startled me at first.

"Hey are you alright?" He asked, looking into my brown eyes with his blue ones as he brushed my black hair out of my face. His eyes showed deep concern for me.

"I really don't know about this quest. It seems so dangerous and I'm scared." I replied to him, a little shaky. I'm a tough person but this was really hitting me hard. I felt so uncomfortable admitting this to Jake, even though he is my best friend... and crush. He smiled warmly.

"It's okay. We're all scared, even Lilian is. We've never been on a quest before. But the fact that our clan was chosen is a good sign." Jake said. That didn't really make me feel any better.

"How can it possibly be a good sign?" I was so confused. Considering the situation we are in and the dangers we must face, one might wonder why it would be a good sign to be chosen. Most would think this would just be bad luck. Jake seemed to be reading my thoughts.

"There is a reason clans are chosen. It means that they are recognized as worthy of legend. They have the potential of being the most honorable, they have a lot of power, and their bonds are unbreakable. Isn't that a good thing, Natalia?" Jake said, trying to reassure me.

"Yeah I guess. But we are chosen to go through hardships and potentially face an early death. That's what it seems like to me." I said with my head held down.

"But in the end, we leave with our success, honor, respect. We gain more power as both individuals and as a clan. Also, monsters will fear us above all other animalians and will not attack us anymore. We will be able to live normal lives again." Jake said, trying to ease my worries a bit.

"And don't forget the experience of a lifetime, Jake." Lilian said, wagging her finger at him.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks a lot Lilian," Jake replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome!" She replied, with a huge grin on her face.

"I was being sarcastic, and you knew that." Jake said, seeming a little annoyed. This surprised me. Usually it's the other way around: Jake trying to be funny and Lilian getting annoyed. Anyways, I think Lilian was just trying to lighten up the mood since Jake and I were obviously showing that we were troubled by this. I'm sure Lilian was a little troubled too but she wasn't revealing it. Yep that's Lilian alright, never showing vulnerability. Even with Jake's encouragement, I was still unsettled about this whole issue. There was another thing that really bothered me.

"When are we going to prepare for our journey?" I asked, hoping we wouldn't have to for a while. Wow, I could never be more wrong.

"We should actually start preparing right now, if we wait any longer it might be too late." Jake said as he stood up.

"Jake, how are we supposed to prepare for something like this? Is our quest going to be like the TV show Man vs. Wild?" I asked Jake who looked back at me.

"I'm afraid it's going to be much more dangerous than that. We will be in grave danger the entire time, constantly hunted and attacked by monsters and evil animalians. Especially since we were the ones chosen to stop them. Any time or place could be dangerous, some more than others. We won't have much time to rest and hang around during our quest. We'll have to be on the move and if we don't hurry, we may be too late. As long as the controller of the mist is still in existence, the evil animalians and the monstrous kin will continue to work together until all the good animalians and anyone else considered an obstacle are murdered, then they will part ways and murder each other until only their own kind is left standing. If that happens, the immense imbalance between good and evil will be permanent. That is why we must leave tonight at the latest." Jake said, making my uneasiness increase again.

"But let's get some rest first... wait what, tonight?! But it's already 4:00 pm!" I was already worn out from all that had happened today. I needed to wind down, not rev up!

"As much as I'd like some rest myself, we have to get ready and get moving. Believe me Natalia, I don't want to go either. But would you rather ditch this quest, try to live a normal life while still being attacked by monsters and evil animalians, then watch as the world falls into absolute chaos and feeling guilty about it? Or would you rather go on this high risk journey, strengthen your power and bonds, become a legend, and be able to live a normal life again?" Jake said, dead serious. After hearing these two options, it was clear what I wanted to do.

"I guess I would rather go on this quest. So if we have to leave tonight and always be on the go, how much stuff should we bring with us?" I asked, trying to seem a little more willing.

"That, we will leave up to your mom." Jake answered quickly.

"Jake, my mom is not the adventurous outdoor type. You should know that. What does she know about survival?" I asked Jake with a confused look on my face.

"Natalia, you always question everything." Lilian said, crossing her arms and shaking her head.

"Shut up Lilian." I said irritably.

"Is everything okay over here?" My mom interrupted us.

"Yeah, I suppose so. But we need to leave tonight for our quest." Jake replied to my mother before I could say anything.

"Oh, okay Jake. I'll gather all the things you'll need." My mom said before she left the room. After about 30 minutes, my mom came back with big hiking backpacks for each of us that had open pouches for our animal guardians to ride in.

"In each of your backpacks there's food, water, a first aid kit, a sleeping bag and pillow. There's a tent in Jake's backpack and a debit card in yours, Natalia. I think that's all you'll need for a while. The pin for the debit card is 6534."

"How much money is on the debit card, mom?"

"$1,500 so $500 for each of you." She answered.

"Do we really need that much money for our quest?" I asked, kind of shocked at how much was on the debit card.

"You'll need the money for food, water, travel, and emergencies." My mom answered me.

"So are you're suggesting that emergencies will definitely happen? But you've already packed us food and water." I said as my mother sighed a bit.

"There's no effective way to predict what will happen and you don't know how long your quest will last. And yes I have packed food and water but it will most likely not last for the entire length of your quest so you'll need money to get some more. Don't go about buying junk food. Try to eat healthy, that's very important for a quest like this. If you need more money on the debit card, just call me and I'll add some into the account." I looked at mom astounded.

"How do you know all this? I thought you weren't the adventurous outdoor type." I asked my mom as she sighed again.

"I never told you this because I didn't want you to get any ideas of it. When I was young I decided to run away from my parents with my older brother and younger sister because they were abusive towards us. We packed what we thought we needed to survive on our own. We had to return to the house several times to restock on the things we needed. Yes, we stole stuff from our parents, but we had to in order for us to survive in the wilderness. They began to worry and called the police to look for us. We found out about it and went back home. We told them why we had left and they promised they would change. We doubted they would keep that promise but to our surprise, they actually did change. We were never abused again. I know you get very frustrated with me sometimes so I kept this a secret so you wouldn't run away from me like I ran away from my parents." My mother told me as my mouth dropped open in shock. Until today, I didn't realized how little I knew about my own mother. Well it is her fault for not telling me about herself. But I never would have guessed she would be so worried about me running away from home.

"Oh, well I would never even consider leaving you in the first place. Even though I get mad at you sometimes, I still wouldn't have ran away from home." I told her as she smiled.

"That's good to know honey." She said with relief. I smiled back at her then turned towards Jake and Lilian.

"Did you know this about my mother? After all, you did say we should leave all the packing to her." I said. Jake seemed to get a little uneasy like he was afraid of what my reaction to his answer would be.

"Well, umm, yes Lilian and I did know. But it's because we knew about this growing problem and that a quest would probably come up and we needed help to get prepared if we were going to be chosen for it. We asked our own parents but they didn't seem to understand, they thought it was a joke. So we had to go to your mom. It was at that time she told us this story. She said she would prepare the things we needed when the time came." Jake admitted.

"So if you knew about this quest earlier, then why didn't you tell me about it? Man you guys hide an awful lot of stuff from me." I said, face palming myself and shaking me head.

"As we've said before, we didn't think you were ready. Plus we didn't want to put you in danger any earlier than necessary." Lilian answered.

"But that still bothers me. I want to know about stuff like this. I don't care if there is danger involved." I blurted out.

"You should care. This danger is worse than you think. Remember what happened with Mrs. Kred? Attacks like those could come from anywhere by anyone. Plus there are monsters out there that are much more dangerous than kerlinands." Lilian rebuked me.

"Oh, okay maybe I do care then. Wait Lilian, you said that attacks can come from anywhere by anyone right?" I asked to confirm what she said.

"Yeah." Lilian replied.

"Does that mean the 'mean girls' from our high school could be monsters too?" I asked Lilian.

"Probably not since Rico and our guardians don't react to their presence." She answered.

"Oh, so if we don't see a monster but our guardians react, that means there is a monster in our midst?" I asked Lilian.

"Either a monster or an evil animalian. Now if there is an animal that we could tame and use during our quest, they'll alert us of that too, but their reaction will be different, you'll see." She answered me. My mom came back into the room.

"Is anyone hungry? I'll make dinner for you guys before you have to leave for your quest." My mom said.

"That would be great. Thank you Mrs. Diamond." Jake answered for us, smiling up at my mother. Oh how I loved Jake's smile. It seemed to make his short golden blonde hair seem even brighter. My mother nodded and started making dinner. After the four of us ate together, we made the final preparations for our quest.


	6. Early Morning Fight

We said our goodbyes to my mom thanked her for packing for us. Before we walked out the door, I ran back to my mom and hugged her.

"I don't know when I will see you again or even if I will come out alive, but thank you for preparing everything for us. I love you mom." I said as I hugged her even tighter.

"I love you too. I'm sure you'll succeed. Just be careful." My mom said as tears started to leave her eyes. We broke the hug and I went to grab some tissues from the tissue box in the living room and handed them to her. She smiled at me as she dabbed her tears away and blew her nose.

"I will be careful. Trust me, I have Jake, Lilian, and our guardians by my side. They'll help keep me in check." I said as we headed towards the front door. We waved goodbye and went to Jake and Lilian's houses for them to say goodbye to their families, then we were off! On our own, vulnerable to attacks, always needing to have our guard up, with no one else to help us, and... well you get the point. It was starting to get dark so it was even more intimidating.

"Why did we have to leave right when the sun was starting to set? This quest is already starting to freak me out." I said as we hiked through the Arizonian desert.

"We already told you, if we were to wait any longer, we wouldn't have time to complete the quest and if we don't complete the quest, the imbalance between good and evil will become permanent and the world will be drowned in chaos." Lilian said sounding a little irritated at me.

"Jake, if we don't know how long the quest will last, how can we possibly predict whether or not we have enough time?" I asked Jake because I didn't want to ask Lilian any more questions.

"Our guardians can sense the rate at which this mist is flowing as well as the wavering of the balance of good and evil forces." And with that vague information Jake gave me, we moved on. Several hours later, I felt like we've walked 100 miles and I was starting to get worn out and sleepy and it seemed like Jake and Lilian felt the same. Jake suddenly stopped in his tracks and set down his backpack.

"We'll have to set up camp where we are for now." Jake said.

"Ah finally we can get some rest!" Lilian plopped down in the sand.

"Really, in the middle of the desert? And not to mention we're also vulnerable to attacks all the time so how are we going to sleep safely?" I asked, obviously showing my frustration.

"Yes, Natalia, we are going to camp out right smack dab in the middle of the Arizonian desert. We will be able to sleep fairly safely. Our guardians have enchanted the tent your mom packed us to act as a shield to cover our scent completely from evil animalians' guardians and monsters, plus our guardians will keep watch over us as we sleep." Lilian answered. We unpacked and set up the tent, which seemed much bigger inside than it appeared outside. I wondered if this was magic or if my eyes were playing tricks on me because of how tired I was.

"Hey Jake is it just me or is this tent bigger inside than it is outside?" I asked Jake who was double checking the tent to make sure it was set up right.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you the enchantment also increases the space inside the tent despite the size it appears to be on the outside. It also gives the tent self-heal properties so if it is damaged, it will mend itself unless it is completely destroyed." He replied. Well that confirmed my suspicion.

"Wow, I never knew that animal guardians had so many powers." I was so glad my mom let me keep Rico all these years. There's no way I could survive this quest without him. We finished setting up our sleeping bags and pillows inside our tent. My sleeping bag was right in the middle, between Jake and Lilian. I've been to plenty of sleepovers before but there were never any guys, so this was a little awkward. The fact that he was my crush made it even more awkward. Oh well, nothing I can really do about it now, I was too tired. And besides, I kinda liked it. The three of us crawled into our sleeping bags and got comfortable.

"Goodnight Jake, Lilian." I said right before a giant yawn.

"Goodnight." They both responded sleepily. We all fell asleep pretty much right away. That night was pretty peaceful despite being in grave danger 100% of the time, until now. I forgot that I was sleeping in the middle of the desert until I was woken up by a coyote and found myself in the tent between Jake a Lilian. It was about 3:00 AM. I hear coyotes all the time but this wasn't an ordinary howl, this was more of a terrified yelp. Rico slithered onto my lap and started shivering violently.

"There isss sssomething outssside." He whispered to me. Then I heard something nearby: large, heavy footsteps of a four-legged beast with a dragging sound of metal. I had enough courage to peek outside the tent. What I saw was absolutely terrifying. There was a huge creature, about the size of a rhinoceros. It had a bulky, scaly body with the head of a lion with a shaggy mane. Its mouth was closed, but its top and bottom canines were ridiculously long, sticking up and down from the mouth. It had a thick tail about ten feet long with razor sharp metal blades sticking out of it, and its eyes glowed red. There was a full moon out and the moonlight reflected off its fangs and the blades protruding from its tail, making it look even more frightening. Fortunately the scent blocking shield seemed to be working. I quickly woke Jake up. I left Lilian alone because she gets really grumpy when you wake her up. Jake moaned sleepily as I shook him.

"Wha-what's wrong?" He said as he rolled over to face me. I put my index finger over my lips, signaling for him to be quiet.

"Jake, What is that?! The thing outside." I whispered. Jake sleepily got up and looked outside and his eyes widened. He was wide awake now.

"Well what is it?" I asked as quietly as I could.

"That's an argolen. These are incredibly dangerous monsters, they can lash out their tails with lightning speed. If you are within a ten foot radius of that tail, you will be sliced into pieces. The only way to kill it is to shoot it with a platinum arrow in its chest or side. They have bad eyesight but an extremely keen sense of smell. Wake Lilian up, quick!" Jake whispered to me.

"But-" I began to say.

"She'll understand when you tell her what's going on." Jake reassured me. I turned in Lilian's direction as I hesitated to wake her up. You definitely do not want Lilian to be grumpy, the situation can get ugly sometimes. But I had to do it, we were in a danger.

"Lilian wake up! But be very quiet." I said, shaking her lightly. She rolled over towards me and shot a piercing cold glare at me.

"What the heck Natalia? Don't you know how early it is?" Lilian complained, rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Lilian, this is not the time for that. There's an argolen outside!" I whispered. She sat up so quickly, it startled me. Fortunately I'm not the kind of person that screams when startled, if I was, we'd all be dead.

"So what do we do about this argolen?" I asked quietly.

"We'll have to fight it if it doesn't go away." Jake said bluntly.

"What?! Jake are you crazy?! It's like seven feet away from us and you said we shouldn't even be within ten feet of this thing. If we leave the tent to attack it, it will smell us and we'll be goners!" I said, trying to keep my voice down the best I could with how panicked I was.

"We won't have to fight it if it goes away on its own. But we must be very quiet and only whisper because the tent doesn't block sound very well." Jake whispered as he kept his eye on the argolen.

"Well can't our guardians' enchantment on the tent block out our noise?" I asked Jake quietly.

"No because sound waves can't be stopped like scent molecules can." Jake whispered back to me.

"Natalia, you should know this since science is your best subject." Lilian said back quietly.

"Lilian, shut up! Just because I love science doesn't mean I know everything." I snapped back.

"We learned about sound waves and molecules in class. Or were you not paying close attention." Lilian teased back. I got so mad I felt like I could kill that argolen with my bare hands. Man, that Lilian, she really knows how to make me mad sometimes. Jake, despite keeping his eyes on the argolen the whole time, could sense the tension rising and quickly intervened.

"Hey you two, quit it. Remember that we are in a life threatening situation right now. This is no time to be arguing. Lilian stop provoking and Natalia calm down." Jake told us. That's easier said than done, I thought. With grudges held, we stopped quarreling.

"It doesn't seem like this argolen will leave anytime soon. I think it senses us but it can't pinpoint where we are. It looks like we have no choice but to fight it." Jake decided. Great, just great. We have already encountered an extremely dangerous monster that could easily kill us on the first day of our quest. And the wort part of it is that it's now 4:00 in the morning!

"Okay guys let's creep out of the tent as quietly as possible while its back is turned to us with bows and arrows ready."

"But Jake, I'm not that good at archery." I whined.

"You'll just have to do your best." He responded.

"I'm pretty good at archery." Lilian added. She looked at me with a smirk on her face.

"Oh shut up." I replied. We quietly asked our guardians to provide us with the bows and platinum arrows and made our way out of the tent. Unfortunately it heard us. It whipped its head in our direction.

"Ready, aim, and fire!" Jake announced.

"But we need to shoot it in its side or chest and neither are facing us Jake!" I pointed out.

"I got it guys." Lilian shot an arrow with deadly accuracy. It hit the argolen right in its nose which bled heavily of silver blood just like Mrs. Kred. I guess all monsters have silver blood. I stood there stunned.

"That's actually pretty impressive, Lilian." I complimented her.

"Thanks Natalia. It can't smell very well now so this should impair its ability to pinpoint us but it can still hear us." The argolen interrupted our conversation with a roar of agony and its eyes were blazing instead of glowing. We really made it angry. It charged at us. Lilian and Jake dove to the side as the argolen thundered by like a freight train.

"Natalia shoot it in its chest or side, quick!" Jake yelled at me.

"Are you crazy, I have a bad aim! Can't you or Lilian shoot it?" I yelled back at him.

"Lilian and I can't." He sounded out of breath.

"Why can't you guys..." I glanced at them then panic came over me. Jake and Lilian were down on the ground with their legs bleeding badly with their guardians trying to distract the argolen. It must have hit them with its tail as it passed them.

"Jake, Lilian!" I yelled, my voice full of panic.

"Don't worry about us right now, kill the argolen!" Jake said. As much as I didn't want to kill it by myself, he was right. I knew if I didn't kill the argolen soon, it would kill Jake and Lilian and their guardians then turn on me and Rico. I aimed at the argolen's side and released the arrow. I hit it in its shoulder. That didn't seem to hurt it that much, it just made it even madder. It turned its attention on me and charged. Oh great, I thought. Fortunately it was far enough from me that I had just enough time to load another arrow. It lunged at me. I waited until it was in midair about ten feet from me because I would have a better chance of nailing it when it was closer. I shot my arrow and hoped for the best and ready for the worst... well, not really ready for the worst. To my surprise, I got it! Right smack dab in the middle of its chest. It came down howling in absolute agony with a huge thud about three feet in front of me. The glow in its eyes went dark and it evaporated into black mist that stunk like sulfur, just like what happened when Mrs. Kred died. That was a close one, a very close one, almost too close. Knowing that the danger was gone, I rushed to my wounded friends.


	7. Healing and Telepathy

Yeah so continuing. Jake and Lilian just got seriously wounded when an argolen lashed its tail at their legs as they jumped aside to dodge the charging beast.

"Jake! Lilian! Are you guys okay?" I yelled after my best friends. Of course they're not okay, I thought. With wounds like those, they won't be able to walk very well or maybe not at all. In that case, there is no way we can finish our quest. Why did we have to confront such a beast so early on in our quest?! Literally early, it was about 4:30 AM.

"We'll be fine." Jake replied, sounding short of breath.

"What are we going to do?! How are we going to continue our quest when you guys are in this condition?" I said, obviously freaking out.

"Calm down Natalia. It's fine our guardians will help us out, leave it to them." Jake said, trying to calm me down.

"But they're animals, how can they finish the quest by themselves?" I asked.

"No not like that, sorry I should have clarified that better. I meant leave the healing of our wounds to them." Jake clarified.

"Huh?" I was kind of confused. What did Jake mean?

"Just watch this Natalia. This is how they heal." Lilian said as if she reading my thoughts.

"Why didn't they just heal you guys while I was busy with the argolen?" I asked, quite puzzled at their choice to wait for me.

"Because we wanted you to see this yourself. So you wouldn't get paranoid if you got injured." Lilian told me.

"Hey, I wouldn't get paranoid over something like that!" I yelled back at Lilian.

"Oh really? I saw the panic in your eyes when you saw us like this. You seemed pretty freaked out over the quest and how we were going to finish it in our current condition." Lilian said teasingly.

"Hey Lilian, stop that. Quit teasing Natalia, it's unnecessary. She was worried about us, and that's normal. And the fact that she was worried about the quest is a good sign because it shows she wants to keep going and finish it. That's the kind of spirit we should all have." Jake said, trying to intervene.

"Really, freak out over the quest? That's the spirit we're supposed to have? That's ridiculous." Lilian responded.

"No Lilian, the spirit of wanting to continue the quest and finish it. You knew what I meant." Jake said to Lilian. I was getting kind of bored of listening to Lilian and Jake argue. And I wanted to see how animal guardians can heal.

"Hey umm guys, can we just stop talking and get to the healing already?" I asked them.

"Natalia's right. We need to continue on our quest. After all, we are running out of time. Okay Kaden and Carlos, do your thing." Jake told their animal guardians.

"Yes Jake, with pleasure." Kaden and Carlos both replied. I was surprised they responded, but then again, Rico could talk too. I should have assumed that all animal guardians can talk. Their voices sounded more human-like than Rico's. Maybe it's because they aren't snakes. Carlos rolled around on Lilian's wounded legs, and Riley gently pressed his sharp teeth against Jake's leg wounds.

"Hey, what are they doing?!" I asked, panicking a little.

"Kaden is secreting his venom into my leg and Carlos rubbing his poison on Lilian's wounds." Jake told me.

"But that will kill you guys! It's venom and poison! Doesn't that hurt?" I asked.

"Their venom and poison heals. But it can only heal those within the clan. Anyone outside the clan, even other friends and family members will be harmed by the venom or poison. It does sting a little bit, but it will wear off in about an hour then we will be completely healed. Healing time varies depending on the seriousness of and the type of injury it is." Jake explained to me.

"So if I get injured, how would Rico cure me? Would he have to bite me or something?" I asked.

"No not necessarily. If you were poisoned, yes. If it's an open wound then all he would have to squirt his venom from his fangs onto the wound." Lilian answered.

"Ouch, that sounds a bit painful. Well I guess it's better than staying injured or dying. By the way, shouldn't we get going? Or do you guys need to rest a little?" I asked them.

"I think I'll be fine. What about you Lilian?" Jake said.

"Yeah, me too." Lilian responded

"Alright, lets get this quest on the road!" I said enthusiastically. I helped Jake and Lilian get to their feet, and we started walking. They both limped a little but their legs looked a lot better. The wounds went from huge open gashes to large scratches. It still looked painful but they were obviously healing quickly. I wondered why mom packed us first aid kits if our guardians have healing properties.

"Hey Jake, did my mom know that our guardians had healing abilities? I mean she did pack us first aid kits." I asked Jake.

"She probably didn't, but it's still a good idea to bring a first aid kit with you anyways." Jake answered.

"Oh, okay." I responded. And with that, we continued. Although I didn't know where we were going.

"Hey Lilian, how do you know where we have to go?" I asked Lilian.

"We're just going in the direction that our guardians have been telling us. They can sense the direction where the mist is flowing from." Lilian answered me.

"So if our guardians have been telling you where to go, then how come Rico hasn't said anything to me yet?" I asked.

"You haven't learned how to communicate through telepathy yet. Telepathy allows you to communicate without physical communication. Not only do you hear it in your mind, but you can feel it too. You can feel and hear exactly what is happening from your guardian's perspective as well as ours even if we aren't together." Jake answered.

"So how do I learn this telepathy thing?" I asked.

"This is what Jake and I meant when we said you must practice working with your guardian in perfect unison, body, mind, and soul. You achieve this through deep meditation. You must first meet Rico in your meditation world." Lilian answered me.

"Meditation world? What is that?" I asked.

"Basically you have to clear your mind of everything, that's the difficult part. Once you've done that, you will seem to appear in the middle of a pure white nowhere, you are still in the real world, but you're not aware of your surroundings. Rico will search for you in his meditation world as well. When your two worlds meet, he will appear out of the pure whiteness. Once you make physical contact within the meditation world, you will be able to act as one, to know and feel each other. You will have to get used to this feeling. This also gives you more power, this comes in handy when trying to tame another animal. You will have to go through the same process to connect with me and Lilian and our animal guardians as well." Jake explained.

"That sounds too easy." I said, feeling pretty confident.

"It's not as easy as you think it is. Clearing your mind of every single thought you have running through your head takes a lot of practice. Knowing you Natalia, this is going to be especially difficult." Lilian told me.

"Hey!" I snapped back at Lilian.

"You know that Lilian is right, Natalia. It's time you just accept it. She's not trying to be mean, she's just trying to make you realize this because it is very important that you learn how to communicate through telepathy. Not just for this quest, but for everyday situations. For example, if someone makes you mad, Rico, could intervene without outside communication. He could help you see the context of the situation and suggest what you could do before you act." Jake told to me.

"Could you give me an example relating to the quest?" I asked.

"Sure. If there were to be an enemy or a powerful animal that we have to deal with, Rico could alert you and tell you what and where it is, along with his emotions and reactions to the situation." Jake explained to me.

"Jake, aren't you forgetting something? The most important reason why Natalia must know how to use telepathy?" Lilian reminded Jake.

"Oh yeah, thanks Lilian. For our quest, we need to locate the controller of this mist and eradicate it. Our guardians can tell us where to go without physical communication. Since we're running out of time we must hurry to the location of the thing controlling the mist." Jake explained.

"And obviously, we can't finish our quest if we don't know where we need to go." Lilian chimed in with a smirk.

"That wasn't necessary." I added. Once again I was annoyed that Jake and Lilian didn't tell me about this telepathy thing earlier when we were still at my house. I was jealous that they had already mastered this and mad that I didn't even know about it until just now. If they told me about telepathy thing before we left my house, I might have learned how to use it by now. I absolutely hate it when people hide things from me especially when it is my best friends. We continued walking until Jake and Lilian stopped in their tracks, causing me to bump into them.

"Hey what was that for?!" I yelled at Jake and Lilian.

"Shhh. Carlos and Kaden just sensed something." Lilian whispered.

"What do they sense?" I asked Lilian. Before I could say anything more, several deep growls came from behind us.


	8. My Friends Tame Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

We looked in the direction where the growls came from. There were two lions, three tigers, and five bears slowly approaching us, ready for breakfast.

"Natalia, you need to start meditating right away! You need to get this down quickly! We'll need your help taming these animals. Remember clear your mind of everything." Jake commanded me.

"But what about the animals? I can't just sit here and meditate. I will get eating alive while in my trance!" I yelled back at Jake.

"Don't worry about that, Lilian and I will protect you, just do it!" Jake reassured me.

"Okay I will. Geez, talk about peer pressure!" I said before I closed my eyes trying to get rid of every single thought that was running through my head. Man, Lilian was right. This is hard. I'm not going to tell her though, she'll just rub it in my face saying: I told you so. I remembered what Lilian and Jake told me that when I reached my meditation world, it would look like pure white emptiness. That gave my an idea. I thought about white empty space. To my surprise it worked! I suddenly appeared in a blindingly white space. It was quite brighter than I thought it would be. Now that I was here, what was I supposed to do? Wait for Rico or go look for him? I tried walking around, but I didn't seem to go anywhere. I guess I should just wait here for him to find me then. I waited for what seemed like a day. I hope this much time wasn't passing in the real world. Finally Rico appeared out of nowhere, just as Jake and Lilian had described to me. He used his body as a spring and leaped into my arms.

"Ssshut your eyesss quickly!" Rico told me. I didn't know the reason behind his order, but I closed them anyways. I soon realized why he told me to close my eyes. Suddenly there came a blast of warm air which was followed by a light so bright I could see it through my eyelids, and just like that, I was in the real world again. I was in the same position I was in when I started meditating. It seemed like I was frozen in place while I was in the meditation world. Now I was ready to join my friends and tame these animals! But as soon as I look over at Jake and Lilian, the beasts were rubbing against them like domestic cats. So much for needing my help. I was jealous that I didn't get to take part in taming these animals. But then again, I wouldn't like to return and be face to face with hungry, dangerous predators without mastering telepathy. I wondered how long I was in my trance. Jake and Lilian had already tamed the beasts by the time I was done meditating, which seemed like a very long time. I approached Jake, Lilian, and the ten wild animals.

"Hey Jake, how long was I out for?" I asked Jake.

"About two hours." Jake answered.

"Really? It seemed like I waited for an entire day before Rico even appeared." I said.

"Time seems to travel differently in meditation. Anyways, you accomplished that pretty fast. I thought you would take much longer to clear your mind." Jake said seeming surprised.

"Thanks a lot." I replied sarcastically.

"It was a compliment. You went beyond my expectations. How did you do it so quickly? Even Lilian and I didn't master this on our first try." Jake admitted.

"Well I imagined pure whiteness just like you guys described to me, and boom, I was in meditation world." I explained to them.

"Geez that's impressive." Lilian said loudly. That startled me a little bit. She must have been listening to our conversation while socializing with the newly tamed animals.

"Thanks Lilian. How many tries did it take you guys to master this?" I asked them.

"Umm I think it took me like maybe five tries to succeed." Jake answered first.

"Really Jake? It took me only two tries," Lilian replied, looking at Jake, seeming disappointed in him.

"Okay, we get it Lilian. No need to brag. In any case, Natalia beat us both so you really shouldn't be bragging at all." Jake rebuked Lilian.

"That is true." Lilian said in agreement, which doesn't really happen very often. Usually she would get annoyed when being rebuked.

"Hey Jake, how about we introduce Natalia to our new friends." Lilian said with excitement and pure bliss. I looked at Lilian with a look of uncertainty.

"Are you sure they are completely tame? After all they are wild animals." I pointed out what Lilian already knew.

"Yes, we've managed to tame them and now we have a connection between them and us. We need to introduce you to them so you can make a connection too, since you were too busy meditating." She said with smart-Alec tone.

"Hey! It was you and Jake that told me the importance of meditation in the first place!" I yelled back at Lilian. Jake sensed the mood shifting quickly and intervened.

"Alright, that's enough Lilian. We don't need to turn the conversation into an argument. Let's introduce Natalia to them. Hey fellows, come on over here for a minute. There's someone you have to meet." Jake said. The lions, tigers, and bears came over as asked. They began sniffing me, hopefully I didn't smell appetizing to them. Then I saw a small static spark come from each animal then disappear into Rico. It passed through Rico who passed the electric sensation to me. I could feel each animal connect to me. I can't really describe what it felt like, but I could just tell.

"Great! Now that we are all connected, we can move on. You guys can go now." Jake told the lions, tigers, and bears. The animals made whining sounds.

"It's okay, we'll see you again, I promise." Lilian reassured the animals. Reluctantly, they walked away. They looked back once, then went on and were gone.

"I thought you said powerful animals are crucial to our quest. Why did you send them away? We'll need their protection from monsters and evil animalians, won't we?" I asked Jake and Lilian.

"Powerful animals are crucial to our quest, but we can't just have animals like those hang around us all the time. It would make us even easier to spot. We've all made a connection with each one of them. We can communicate with them through telepathy, even if they are far away." Jake explained to me.

"But what if we need their help and they really far away from our location, what good can telepathy do for us?" I asked them.

"They have a way of traveling through dimensions to meet us right when we need them." Lilian answered me this time.

"That's cool!" I responded.

"Sure is, isn't it." Lilian whispered right next to my ear and I jumped. She somehow managed to sneak up behind me and startle me. I could tell she was doing this on purpose to satisfy her boredom. After all, all we've been doing was walking for miles and we didn't bring anything to entertain ourselves. But it still made me mad.

"Lilian would you please not do that!" I yelled at Lilian.

"Okay fine. You could've said that more calmly." Lilian replied back to me.

"Whatever." I replied, clearly showing that my irritation level rising. Jake seemed to be getting mad on my behalf.

"Okay Lilian that's enough! Stop bugging Natalia. We don't need anymore stress. Too much stress can affect our health. And for a quest like this, we need to be in good health. Speaking of health, we should eat lunch." Jake said. I was waiting for someone to mention that, I was starving. We stopped and sat down and took off our hiking backpacks. Apparently, I wasn't the only one starving. All three of us and ravaged through our backpacks like starving animals. We dug out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and apples. Mom had packed food for our guardians too: mice for Rico and Kaden, and crickets for Carlos. We decided to have a quick picnic since we have been walking for several hours. Little did we know, we were about to be attacked yet again.


	9. Our Picnic is Interrupted by Evil

So here we are, enjoying our first meal since we left home for our quest, talking and laughing like we normally do during lunch time at school. Mom's sandwiches tasted way better than normal. Maybe it's because I was so hungry, or maybe she made higher quality sandwiches just for this quest. It made me wonder.

"These sandwiches are amazing!" Jake suddenly blurted out. He's had my mom's sandwiches before but he's never said anything like that about them to me or even my mom. Well that confirmed my higher quality theory. As I munched away at my sandwich, I wondered what were the lions, tigers and bears doing in the middle of the desert.

"Lions, tigers and bears are not native to the Arizonian desert. What the heck were they doing here?" I asked Jake and Lilian.

"They said they were being transferred to a zoo in Phoenix when four fat guys jumped the truck and released them." Jake replied after gulping down a bite of his sandwich.

"Oh. So were these people animalians or just a normal humans?" I asked them.

"They told us that they were talking among themselves about how hungry they were and how much they wanted to be free. The men seemed to understand what they were saying despite appearing to be human. They then told them that there should be three delicious creatures wandering the desert and let them out of their cages." Lilian answered.

"So they were animalians." I said, piecing things together in my mind.

"Yes, Natalia. They are evil animalians. They're probably looking for us right now." Jake said. Oh great, I thought. I hope Jake and Lilian were all better now. If those guys show up and we're not in top fighting shape, we're going to be in trouble.

"So how are you guys feeling? Are you completely healed yet?" I asked after swallowing another bite of my sandwich.

"Lilian and I are fine now. Thanks for asking." Jake answered. I felt so relieved that my friends were okay. For once I felt confident that we would succeed despite the hardships we've already faced so far. Boy was I wrong. Just as I was about to take a giant bite of my apple, I heard a laugh come from behind us. I turned around to find four fat guys in walking towards us. One was really tall with jet black hair. The other three looked like triplets. They were all wearing ripped jeans and leather jackets.

"So this is the chosen clan eh? Pathetic! I was expecting a larger clan with members in top physical shape to stop us." The tall one spoke. Look who's talking, I thought to myself.

"What do you want?" I said in an angry tone.

"Is that how you normally greet strangers, Natalia? No wonder your clan is small." The tall one said. That guy really knows how to make me mad. I wanted to kill him so bad. But despite my hatred for this guy, one thing really disturbed me and it gave me a little rush of fear. How did he know my name?

"I've heard about you Natalia. The kerlinand that attacked you and your friends at your school notified our forces she sensed a powerful presence. The most interesting fact was that you didn't even know you were an animalian yet. Which of course means one major thing: you are way more powerful than the average animalian. I hate to admit it, but I am a bit jealous of your level of power. But strength comes in numbers too and you guys are outnumbered." The tall one explained.

"But not by much. And Natalia is way more powerful than each of you alone, plus she's got us by her side. You must not have your proportions right." Lilian exclaimed.

"Perhaps you're right, but it is still our job to exterminate you. I'm surprised the vicious beasts we set free haven't eaten you yet, they were starving. Anyways even if you manage to defeat us, there will be many more attacks from our forces. If we don't cause your downfall, another evil clan or monster will." The tall one replied. That really seemed to tick Jake off.

"We will finish our quest! Why do you speak with such confidence?" He yelled back.

"I could ask you the same thing young hero. But before we kill you guys, I need to introduce you to my clan. I'm Hunter and these three are Kyle, Seth, and Ross. They're triplets." Hunter introduced us to his clan.

"Where are your animal friends? Are they too shy to be introduced?" I said in a mocking tone.

"Why are you so eager to meet them?" One of the triplets replied.

"Oh so you can speak." I said teasingly.

"Well duh, of course we can. We just aren't as much of a bigmouth as Hunter is." The triplet replied back.

"Nice one Kyle!" One of the other triplets said. That seemed to make Hunter really mad.

"Kyle! Ross! That was not cool! I'm not a bigmouth, you guys are just too silent." Hunter was about to hit Kyle and Ross when the one who must have been Seth intervened.

"Guys, do you three really have to fight over something small like this? Especially when we've got our targets right in front of us." Seth said. Hunter stopped in his tracks.

"You're right. Lets get down to business!" Hunter said as they all looked in our direction but we were already far away. They ran after us and caught up.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hunter asked, sounding angry.

"We just got bored of you guys fighting so we walked away." Lilian said after a yawn. But honestly, witnessing a fight between members of an enemy clan was actually quite amusing in my personal opinion.

"How did you get so far just by walking?" Kyle asked in confusion.

"That's our normal walking pace. We weren't speed walking either. Believe it or not-" I started to say, but Ross interrupted me.

"Let's just fight already guys! We are just wasting time." Ross said, sounding very impatient.

"Ross is right." Hunter agreed. Their animal guardians emerged from their sleeves revealing four lean men in really baggy leather jackets. Hunter's animal guardian was a crocodile about four feet long. How it fit in that jacket, I didn't know. Large anacondas slithered out of each of the triplets' jackets. I wasn't surprised that the triplets had the same animal guardians.

"Nile, give me my scythe then kill them!" Hunter shouted as his crocodile began to glow and a giant grim reaper's scythe formed in his hand.

"Kyle II, Seth II, Ross II, our serrated spears, now attack!" The triplets yelled simultaneously. What creative names, I thought to myself. The crocodile lunged at me with its mouth open wide. I dodged the crocodile's jaws as they snapped shut next to me. "Rico, diamond dust coated machete!" Rico leaped out of my backpack pouch onto my back and a machete appeared in my hands. Just as I was about to cut the crocodile's head off, it whacked me with its tail which knocked me off my feet. I scrambled away from it as fast as I could. Suddenly, I heard growly voices in my head saying they were coming which freaked me out a little. Just then two lions, three tigers, and five bears came charging from behind me. They were animals we had tamed earlier! They surrounded the crocodile and killed it with ease. Hunter froze in shock and disbelief.

"How dare you beasts betray us! We set you free so you could find food! We told you there were three creatures to eat!" He yelled in rage. One of the lions replied in a deep growly voice.

"Yes you did. We found the three creatures, but before we could devour them, we had been tamed." The lion said to him. Hunter was red in the face from anger. Then he looked in Lilian's direction and laughed evilly. I turned towards Lilian to see what Hunter was laughing at just in time to see Carlos, Lilian's California newt, get swallowed alive by one of the anacondas. Lilian showed no concern, not even grief.

"Yes! That a boy Seth II!" Seth praised the anaconda. Suddenly the anaconda's movements stopped and its mouth dropped open with its tongue sticking out. Carlos emerged unharmed but covered in snake spit.

"California newts are highly toxic. That's why I let your snake swallow him." Lilian said with a smirk on her face. Seth was paralyzed with disbelief. Lilian scooped up her now super slimy guardian into her hands.

"Who else wants a deadly snack?" She said, holding up the little California newt for all to see. The other two anacondas backed off, only to bump into the two lions which bit them on their heads, killing them instantly.

"Nooo!" Kyle and Ross yelled simultaneously.

"Well I guess it's just us and you four now." Jake said, his eyes glittering with excitement and energy.

"Kaden, my double V sword, now!" Kaden, his Komodo dragon, began to glow and Jake's sword appeared in front of him.

"Carlos, my electric staff please!" Carlos did the same and Lilian's staff formed in her hands, surging with electricity. The lions, tigers, and bears left in a blink of an eye.

"Okay, we were not expecting that." Hunter said, recovering from shock of the turn of tables. Suddenly I came up with a clever pun.

"Hunter, you are now the hunted!" I said, with a evil smirk on my face.

"No, you are still the hunted." Hunter said as my smirk disappeared. Crap, he was right. We were not hunting them, we were being hunted by them. I was so distracted by disappointment, that I didn't notice Hunter charging at me with his scythe. I ducked his scythe in time but it cut the ends of my hair off. That made me absolutely enraged. He was obviously enjoying my new jagged haircut.

"You jerk! You will pay for this!" I sprinted at him with my diamond machete. While he was distracted by me charging at him, I hurled Rico at him. He landed on Hunter's shoulder and wrapped himself around his arm and sank his fangs into his neck. Hunter dropped his scythe and fell to his knees as he started to turn a light purple.

"Well? Any last words?" I asked, smiling down at him darkly.

"You will not win." He replied weakly.

"Obviously I already have." I said down to him. Then he collapsed and some blood came from his mouth. Probably because of the internal damage from Rico's venom. I looked at Jake and Lilian right as they finished off the triplets. They gave me the okay signal and I ran to join them.


End file.
